


Same War, The

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s03e21 We Killed Yamamoto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-01-15
Updated: 2004-01-15
Packaged: 2019-05-31 06:16:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15113522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: "Mr. President, don't do it...You'll be throwing in our lot with torturers and panderers, leaders without principle and soldiers without conviction" - Leo in "The War at Home"





	Same War, The

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**The Same War**  
**by:** Kasey

**Character(s):** Leo  
**Category(s):** POST-EP: We Killed Yamamoto  
**Rating:** TEEN  
**Disclaimer:** Don't own them, massive spoilers for the ep it's set after, other than that it's nothing major.  
**Summary:** "Mr. President, don't do it...You'll be throwing in our lot with torturers and panderers, leaders without principle and soldiers without conviction" - Leo in "The War at Home"  
**Spoiler:** War at Home, We Killed Yamamoto, War Crimes, minor ones about Leo's past.  
 **PROPS:** To Janie, for the conversation that sparked this little ficlette in my mind. And to Flip for the beta. 

We can't possibly do this. Not only is it violating international law, not only will it make us look bad if it comes out, not only will it be open hunting season on Americans and allies of America... 

We can't do it for a thousand reasons. Not the least of which is that when we start assassinating foreign leaders we're playing with fire. 

And since usually we end up sitting on a giant keg of gunpowder... 

Not to mention, we shoot the Qumari defense minister, next thing ya know his underlings blow up...I dunno, the Empire State Building. Another classic American landmark. Statue of Liberty. So then of course we have to go back with a proportional response - something with civilians to make up for the lives they took of our innocents. We bomb them, they bomb us. We start factoring in what they'll hit in retaliation every time we blow things up, that's the cost of doing business, and the next thing ya know, we're Israel and Palestine, only we're half a world away from our enemy instead of half a mile. 

And instead of a teenage kid with a bomb strapped to his chest, our killing machine is some 18, 19-year-old kid with a dad who's long gone and a ma and two little sisters back home, flying bombing runs over Qumar. He probably would go AWOL if he knew he was blowing up civilians, so we tell him it's a military target...then thirty years later he finds out the truth. 

No way in hell. That's the big reason we can't do this. 

Jungle or no jungle. I'm not gonna fight this war from any side, any place. 

There's nothing to win. 'Cause at the end of the day, all you've got is a disaster-area of a country, and they've got the same rubble-covered landscape, and you've both got a bunch of dead bodies of people who died for nothing more than a nationality. 


End file.
